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Episode 1121 - 2 Chefs Compete
The twenty first episode of Season 11 of Hell's Kitchen aired on Fox, on July 25, 2013, airing as a double feature alongside the twenty second episode. On that episode, Ja'Nel and Mary created their menus, met with a current winner, competed in their final challenge, and reunited with their teammates. Elimination The episode began with a recap of the season. Mentioning what happened in the previous 20 episode, and who was eliminated when. Continuing from the previous episode, both Jon and Ja'Nel waited in anticipation for Ramsay’s announcement, but in the end, Ja'Nel was named the second finalist, making her speechless. That meant Jon was eliminated, but before leaving, Ramsay told him he was leaving as the lone shining star of the blue team that year, told him to keep in touch, and allowed him to keep his jacket. During his exit interview, Jon received a retrospective montage of his time on the show. Ramsay gave no comment on Jon’s elimination, and he did not receive the portrait burning sequence. Intro After Jon left, Ramsay hugged the two finalists as Mary told off the people who underestimated her. Then, Ramsay remarked how fitting that the final two were both women as that season was the year of the women, and after reminding them that one of them would become the winner, he suggested they enjoy the moment and celebrate, before telling them to pack their bags as they were leaving for Las Vegas immediately. As the two went up to pack, Ja'Nel could not believe she was going back to Vegas and was thankful to be in the final two as the competition between herself and Mary would be intense. Later, the final two met Ramsay at the private jet, and during the trip, they toasted to the milestone. During the trip, Ramsay jokingly asked Mary how many glasses would it take for her voice to deepen, and while the latter felt she was getting close, Ja'Nel felt it was getting higher. Then, Mary called making it to the final two incredible as she came in as the underdog, and despite getting nominate by her team multiple times, she never gave up and had full confidence in winning. On the other side, Ja'Nel felt she started strong, and despite some hiccups, she bounced back, and that the competition was hers to win. After, Ramsay told the final two to start thinking about their menus which included four appetizers, four entrées, and two desserts with the goal of having it represent themselves. Mary was assigned Sous Chef Andi, while Ja'Nel was assigned Sous Chef James, but when the latter openly wanted to show Ramsay her range of flavors, Mary felt Ja'Nel thought more about herself than anybody else. At Vegas, the final two’s personal concierge escorted them to their own Villa for the evening, and Ja'Nel called it pure luxury, before believing she could get used to it. After, the two broke off to think about menu items, and for Mary, she felt good to finally put her ideas on paper. For Ja'Nel, she felt that she was going to fill up her pages with passion. The next day, the Sous Chefs arrived and the final two met with their respective partners for advice. Sous Chef James warned Ja'Nel that her menu had a lot of shellfish items, although she did not agree with him in a few points, and was ready to head back to Hell’s Kitchen. However, a knock on the door occurred, and when they opened the door, a Roman Centurion appeared with a message from Ramsay. The message told the two to be prepared to meet a very important person from the Caesar’s Palace family, exciting Ja'Nel as she would meet the person she would be working with soon. Once outside, Ramsay introduced the final two to Caesar’s Palace President Gary Selesner, and Mary asked if she was royalty for meeting him. Selesner congratulated the final two for making it this far, and then, Ramsay revealed there was one more surprise in store. As they drove to the Paris hotel, Ja'Nel wondered what was around the corner. There, Ramsay took the final two to Gordon Ramsay Steak, and Mary was in awe by the gorgeousness of the restaurant, and then, Ramsay called over Season 10 winner Christina to meet with them. That surprised Ja'Nel as Christina just won the previous season, and Ramsay told the final two that he was giving them a chance to speak with a previous contestant that nailed it in her season. As the women sat down for dinner, Christina asked if they thought about their brigades yet as she herself had to think who she could trust in her team, while also evaluating the strong from the weak and reminded them that the first pick was crucial, and they should not pick their best friend like a kickball game. Mary took the insight very well as it was crucial before service began, and after dinner, Ramsay came back with presents for the two. The presents contained their head chef jackets, and Ja'Nel called it a great day, before hoping to be in the same position as Christina. Later that night, the final two made it back to Hell’s Kitchen for a little bit of relaxation, when suddenly the phone rang, and Ramsay told them they were going on another overnight trip. That made Mary called that day ridiculous, but Ja'Nel knew things in Hell’s Kitchen were not as they seemed. Arriving at a local train station, a conductor led them to what was supposed to be their train, but Mary compared it to the train station from Harry Potter. On their way, the final two reunited with their loved ones, Mary’s mother and husband, and Ja'Nel’s sister and mother, and the two her happy to see them again. After, the conductor led them to the entrance to the train, but after entering the hall, they arrived in a stage with a large audience cheering for them. There, Ramsay admitted to the final two that they were not there to catch a train, but instead, it was time for their final challenge, although Ja'Nel felt she was not prepared at all. Final challenge For the Final Tasting Challenge, Ja'Nel and Mary had one hour to cook five dishes from their menus which included a cold appetizer, a hot appetizer, a fish entrée, a chicken entrée, and a beef entrée. Mary deemed it a big deal as it was one step closer to winning the prize, while Ja'Nel was taken aback by the request as they normally do one dish in 45 minutes, and knew Ramsay was kicking up the pressure. As they began cooking, Mary was confident to keep her dishes simple, while Ja'Nel wanted to go outside the box, and hoped for the judges to see her vision. 30 minutes left, Mary went with a traditional steak frites, while Ja'Nel took a big risk with beef cheeks in order to stand out. Eventually, the final two had their dishes cooked and plated on time. For the first round, Sang Yoon of Lukshon came to judge the cold appetizers, and Ja'Nel felt confident before expressing confidence she would kick ass. Ja'Nel presented a deconstructed BLT with fried green tomatoes, crispy prosciutto, baby arugula, and gorgonzola ranch. Yoon praised the texture of the dish and the crispiness of the prosciutto, but felt it was a stretch to call it a BLT, even though Ja'Nel felt she covered all the bases to call it a BLT. After, Mary’s ahi tuna tartare with sesame oil was praised for a nice texture, but criticized for the oil component as it weighed the dish down. In the end, Ja'Nel won that round, she led 1-0, and she deemed that win proof she had a BLT. For the hot appetizer round, Homaru Cantu of Moto judged that round, and Ja'Nel knew the former was looking for different techniques. After, Ja'Nel’s mussels with coconut curry was praised for strong flavors, but criticized for a lack of seasoning, and for Mary, her sweet potato gnocchi with creamy chanterelle bacon sauce was praised for its seasoning, and the use of sweet potatoes due to moving into autumn, but the gnocchi itself was criticized for tasting dense. Despite that, Mary scored that round, it became a one-point tie, and she felt she was in Ja'Nel’s grill. For the fish entrée round, David Lefevre of M.B. Post came to judge, and Mary knew what the former said was important as he had a Michelin star. Ja'Nel’s pan seared rainbow trout with cauliflower cooked two ways and brown butter pine vinaigrette was praised for having a moist fish, even though Lefevre felt it was a little busy in some places, and for Mary, her Chilean sea bass with nappa cabbage was deemed great along with having a sexy presentation. However, Ja'Nel scored that round and led 2-1, much to Mary’s dismay as Lefevre called her dish sexy. For the chicken entrée round, Douglas Keane of Cyrus came to judge, and Ja'Nel was ready to win it as she only needed one more point. Then, Ja'Nel’s oven roasted chicken breast with parmesan polenta and salsa verde was deemed stunning, while Mary’s seared chicken breast with crispy skin was deemed gorgeous and that it tasted great. After, Mary scored that round, it became a two-point tie, but while Mary was happy to still be in it, Ja'Nel was not as it meant she had to use her risky beef dish, before hoping her beef cheeks were a hit. For the final round, Jeffery Frederick, V.P. of Food & Beverage at Caesar’s Entertainment, came to judge the beef entrée round, and Ja'Nel presented her red wine braised beef cheeks on top of smashed red potatoes. Fortunately for her, Frederick was a huge fan of beef cheeks, and felt Ja'Nel did an excellent job preparing it as it was very tender. Then, Mary presented her seared New York striploin with polenta sticks, and Frederick deemed it a flawless dish by technicality, based on the meat temperature, while calling it an exceptional dish. After a tough decision, Frederick gave the point to Ja'Nel, and she won the challenge 3-2, making that she won the challenge. Team select After the challenge, Ramsay told Ja'Nel that she had first pick of the drafts for her brigade, but while the final two were ready to head back to Hell’s Kitchen, Ramsay was not. For the first time ever, the final two would pick their drafts in front of the live audience, and right behind them, Dan, Amanda, Ray, Michael, Nedra, Anthony, Zach, Susan, Cyndi, and Jon were lined up on the prop stairwell. While Mary called the returning chefs’ appearance creepy, Ja'Nel was excited to see them again, before hoping there were no hard feelings. Before Ja'Nel made her first pick, Mary knew Jon and Cyndi were the top two picks, but while she wanted the latter more due to working with her more, Ja'Nel picked Cyndi as her first pick after a difficult decision. Ja'Nel reasoned that she has worked with Cyndi before, and felt she was a strong chef who could work fast, with the latter’s victory in the Taste It Now Make It Challenge being used, Cyndi was happy to have been picked first as it meant it was a close decision. Mary immediately picked Jon as her first choice for never giving up, as his victory in the King of the Hill Challenge showed, but before Ja'Nel named her second pick, Zach wondered who was going to pick him as, despite not having the best relationship with the women, he felt they loved him, despite footage proving otherwise. In the end, Ja'Nel picked Susan as her second choice, surprising the latter given their feuds in the past, but felt the former was seeing her talent. Then, Mary named Anthony as her second pick, before hoping she did not get either Dan or Zach as she wanted Ja'Nel to have those idiots, and the latter asked Zach how she could trust him in the kitchen. Zach promised that he wanted to see Ja'Nel succeed, despite sabotaging Ray in the private dinner service, and she named him her third pick as he had something to prove, to Mary’s relief. After, Mary picked Nedra as her third choice, Ja'Nel picked Amanda as her fourth choice, and the latter was ready for redemption after her poor performance during the Quinceañera dinner service. Then, Mary picked Michael as her fourth choice, leaving Dan and Ray as the last possible choices. Dan did not want to be on Mary’s team, even threatening to fuck up if he was on her team, but in the end, Ja'Nel named Ray her final choice, leaving Mary with Dan. Despite that, Mary was stoked to tell her team what to do, but before leaving, Ramsay handed her and Ja'Nel an envelope each for them to read as it contained instructions that could impact their performance in the final service. However, Ramsay told the two not to open them until they returned to Hell’s Kitchen, and while Ja'Nel was ready to dig her heels in and get to work, she was curious what the envelopes contained. Before service Returning back to Hell’s Kitchen, Ja'Nel and Mary opened their envelopes in the confessional, and both were shocked that the letter gave each of them an opportunity to trade one member from their brigade with somebody from the other’s brigade, but they only had until the doors open to do so. The two met in the bedroom to discuss the letter, and Mary was too uneasy with Dan as the latter was full of himself and could sink her, before expressing a desire to trade him for Cyndi. However, Ja'Nel did not want Dan on her team at all, and told Mary she was happy with her brigade, much to the latter’s dismay. Later that night, Mary met with her team and asked what their strengths were in the kitchen, but while Dan claimed he was strong on meat, Nedra hoped he meant it during service. Then, Mary asked Dan to be a team player with no attitude, but the latter ignored her, and then, Jon told Mary how Dan would ignore everybody’s input. However, Dan rudely told Jon to suck it, while Mary asked her team to respect her as a lot was on the line. Meanwhile, Susan told Ja'Nel that they were here to make her look good, but when the latter listed off her appetizers, Zach expressed concern about there being a lot of seafood items, only for Ja'Nel to retort that she wanted it on the menu. However, when Cyndi brought up that three of the four items were grilled, Ja'Nel felt her team was testing her decision, but wanted her menu to please the customers. Then, Cyndi was not sure about beef cheeks for an entrée as nobody from her city would order a dish like that, and Susan commented that she never seen that on a California menu before. Fed up with her team trying to give her suggestions, Ja'Nel bluntly told them that it was her menu and she was their boss, but then, she started to rethink her decision about trading with Mary. As Ja'Nel left to talk with Mary, the episode ended in a cliffhanger. Category:Episodes Category:Season 11